LISTED HERE:

My Stats

June 4, 2012

What I like and Dislike About Cambodia

When I first stepped on the Cambodia soil 5 years ago, I was clueless. I barely know anything about this country and it's people. What I heard from my friends and ex colleagues is that this country is underdeveloped, well...as compared to it's neighboring countries in South East Asia. I already had that idea that the place is not as modernized as other Asian countries particularly as far as education and infrastructures are concerned.

True enough, when I arrived here 5 years ago, I have seen that the roads are not fully developed. Only a small fraction of the country's people speak and understand English. It was a struggle to communicate during my first few months. I had that experience of going to the market hoping to buy some personal stuff that I need in my room which the company provides me but I ended up going back to my housing unit with nothing. It's because nobody understands me. Sigh!

But I see how Cambodia progressed year after year. The roads had been developed very fast. Sooner than what I expected. Many new businesses had opened up and the tourism industry had soared into great heights. Cambodia now is one of the favorite destination of travelers particularly those from the Western side. Many investors are coming to Cambodia to put up businesses and some of the investment costs millions of dollars. I was thinking that these businessmen will not put up such great amount of money if they haven't seen the potential in the area.

Needless to say, Cambodia had rise up from the grounds after that nightmare from the Khmer rouge.

There are so many plus and minuses about this country and I want to share with you some. Let me begin with the things that I love about this country.

People here are really into veggies and for me that's great.

People here have high regards for foreigners and they treat them with a great amount of hospitality.

People here are simple and so are their lives.

This country is blessed having no incidents of earthquakes, typhoons, tsunami, volcanic eruptions, etc. In short they are free from any calamity. Maybe this has something to do with the country's geographical location.

They love festivals and this can evidently shown by a number of holidays in a calendar year

Now let me go to what I don't like about Cambodia.

I don't understand why they have to celebrate weddings for three days. When they hold weddings, they hold it mostly on the streets where detachable large canopies are installed adorned with lavish decorations.

When they have functions, they will play a very strong sound system with an irritating music enough to break your ear drum and make you unable to sleep.

They wear a pair of pajamas even outside the streets and to them, this is a common thing.

They put a special ingredient on their dishes from which the smell can spread out enough for the whole village to know what is the dish for the day.

Women love to put strong make up during parties and wear those thick fake eyelashes.

Overall, the country is still a good place to stay. It's safe, people are warm and hospitable, the cost of living is not so high and they provide ample opportunities for employment.

45 comments:

I met a lady from Cambodia a few months back, and the things she told me weren't so different from what you've posted. I guess, the fact that someone else shares your sentiments validates how you feel about Cambodia :)

A wedding for three days? Amazing. Too bad they celebrate on the streets and disturb others. But I guess it shows how comfortable they are in their country. Imagine being able to walk outside wearing pajamas as well. Sorta the same here in the Philippines :D

It's great to know about other countries' cultures through first hand experience, but it's also nice to be able to know through blogs like yours. Thanks. :)

Rae, you are referring to isolated cases, I am talking in general. It might also be happening in the Philippines but it's not the usual thing. When we hold parties, we play loud music but not 24 hours as in very very loud as u already know that you are causing disturbance to the whole village.

Such interesting things you shared. Moving in and living into another country will always initially makes us compare with life in Pinas. But eventually we'll learn how to live with everything. There are different customs that they observed and we just need to respect and go with the flow, he!he!

When I read Cambodia, I am always reminded by the killing fields. Of course that was already some decades ago. The country has already risen from the nightmare. 3-days of wedding celebrations? Wow that is expensive.

They have really developed fast these past few years and have even surpassed our country in many aspects. As for the things you dislike, they are a lot more tolerable than crab mentality, corruption, and many other things that plague our country.

Let's respect the Cambodian culture and traditions. If they were to ask too, they have a lot of things to vehemently abhor which the Filipino are explicitly doing from government, culture, and traditions.

I love to travel and I would love to visit Cambodia :) I like to experience their wedding celebration, atleast it lasts for 3 three days:D rather than in here that the wedding ceremony and reception only last for 4 hours lol

I haven't been to Cambodia and this is a great start of knowing the country. I wish the Philippines was also situated there so there are less calamities. I've experienced all I think and I'm glad our President now has the wisdom to alert it's people when a typhoon is approaching to avoid dead casualties.

I'm new to your blog, what do you do in Cambodia? It must be interesting to live and work there. I've only known Cambodia through partners before when I still worked with NGOs. I'd love to visit someday, along with Vietnam and Laos.